I wrote this on Saturday before heading to a birthday party for a good buddy of my kids. Happy to report, we all had a blast:
We’re headed to a swim birthday party this afternoon, which means I have to be in my swimsuit helping the kids in the pool. Normally this wouldn’t be a big issue for me, but a recent health issue has made me gain some weight despite a day to day healthy lifestyle. This is hard for me because I’ve always been athletic and fit and my own body doesn’t feel “right” to me right now.
But I never considered not getting in the pool with the kids, or hiding myself under a t-shirt. I plan to “Whooop!” when I go down the water slide. Because while my kids know I have to wear a special bracelet now and take medicine and work hard at getting my body strong and healthy again, they’ll never see me ashamed of my body.
The message me and my extra 20 pounds will be giving my daughter and my son and the two little friends we are taking the to the party is that it is not how your body looks that is important, but rather how you choose to live in it and what you choose to do with it that makes you full of awesome.
3 Responses to “Water Slides and Body Image”
Leave a Reply
This is so awesome!! I’m proud of you! Thanks for being a great example!!
[Reply]
Love this. My dad would always point out to us how lucky we were to have a mom that got in the water with us and played rather than sit on the side lines and now my goal is to be that sort of mom too.
[Reply]
melissa Reply:
January 8th, 2013 at 10:06 am
Taylor -
Your dad sounds like a really smart fella!
[Reply]
[...] reminder from small business owner, gender stereotype education warrior, and mom Melissa Wardy that our choices set an example for those around us. I also appreciate being gently encouraged to celebrate all the things my body can [...]
[...] on Pigtail Pals has a short but inspiring post about the benefits of putting aside your own body-image issues to have fun with the kids. For one, [...]